Petrol, diesel prices at all-time highs ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi

The Centre now levies a total excise duty of Rs 19.48 per litre of petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel.

The prices of petrol and diesel in Goa today are Rs 74.43 per litre and Rs 74.18 per litre, respectively. In Maharashtra, apart from 25 percent and 21 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel respectively, the government has also introduced Rs 9 and Re 1 as various cess on petrol and diesel respectively.

In a masterstroke and timely decision, Chandrababu Naidu has cut down the excise duty of AP state government on the fuel prices.

To this, the PIL alleged that "instead of passing the lower oil prices to ease the burden on consumers, Respondent as well as State Govt. increased taxes to meet their fiscal deficit commitments". "Alternatively, a $1/barrel increase in oil prices translates, on average, to a Rs 1,513-crore revenue gain for all the major 19 states", it mentioned. State oil companies publish local rates of petrol and diesel daily, based on the average price of these fuels in the global market for the trailing fortnight.

A petitioner had challenged the daily rise in fuel rates and sought a direction to the Centre to fix a fair price for petrol and diesel by treating them as essential commodities.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has dissolved the state assembly and is going for early elections in November/December, while his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu wants to continue in power till the completion of his full term. It stated the largest gain would be in Maharashtra to the tune of Rs 33.89 billion followed by Gujarat at Rs 28.42 billion.

Touching a new high, in Mumbai, the prices of petrol threatened to touch Rs 90-per-litre mark at Rs 88.26 today whereas a litre of diesel is available for Rs 77.47. "Though many States are having a revenue surplus, they use the surplus revenue to finance capital expenditure and interest obligations, " the report said.